


I Believe in What I Can See

by savanting



Series: Don’t Call Me Princess (Raya and the Last Dragon One-Shots) [1]
Category: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Genre: Character Study, Jumping the gun, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Pre-Canon, Short One Shot, after the movie comes out i will probably be so embarrassed, before canon exists, before canon is public knowledge, musings inspired by a teaser trailer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: Raya feels the tug of loneliness as she passes through another village so far from home. One-Shot.
Series: Don’t Call Me Princess (Raya and the Last Dragon One-Shots) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981357
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	I Believe in What I Can See

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any Disney properties, not even the upcoming _Raya and the Last Dragon_ (coming March 2021 — we hope).
> 
> So, here we are, it is October 21st, 2020, and I just watched the teaser trailer for _Raya and the Last Dragon_. And there are so many things I felt upon seeing it! Elation, wonder, awe — you name it! I really have high hopes for this movie, and Kelly Marie Tran is a queen who was so under-appreciated as Rose in the _Star Wars_ sequel trilogy. It’s so fun to have her represent as the newest Disney princess! But what kind of princess will Raya be...? I hope to explore that in this fic and others before the official movie comes out! I hope someone has fun reading my explorations!

The wind sang alive the secrets of the terrain — wherever she stood, wherever she went — but it was like a language Raya had yet to learn in nuance, flow, and true meaning. Her training had meant solitude in spades, something she had never quite gotten a full grasp upon, but at least traveling meant new places, new sights, new wonders to behold. But the journey was ever fraught with some trepidation.

Just because she was searching for a dragon — the _last_ dragon — did not mean she couldn’t enjoy herself along the journey. One tiny village she had passed through bore the vibrant colors of a festival, one welcoming the change of year, and Raya reveled in the smells and flavors that passed her way as she moved throughout the crowd. Her stomach grumbled in response, like a hungry ghost moaning for some sort of material satisfaction.

No one spared her a glance, and she supposed that was best: she hid herself in an over-large cloak, spattered with sand and grime from her travels, and hoped Tuk Tuk would not arouse any suspicion where she had left him in the outskirts of the village. The armadillo-like creature had grown exponentially since their early years together; he wasn’t the pocket-size darling she had befriended when she was a young girl.

A little girl dressed in a flowered smock ran past, trailing a red ribbon behind her as boys — younger brothers, maybe, or perhaps just neighbors — hollered in her wake. Raya was reminded of another time, one divorced from the now, when she too had been free to play and laugh and run under the sun—

Raya shook herself. It was best not to dwell. When you pondered over what you didn’t have versus what you already possessed, there was an even greater chance of losing what you had in the first place. There was no point to a life of “what if’s” and “mayhaps” — at least not to Raya.

No, Raya believed in only what she could see with her own two eyes.

The spirits of her ancestors might have balked — what proper girl _didn’t_ have reverence for who and what had come before her? — but Raya would worry about spirits when she was dead and gone herself. The spiritual realm was supposed to be its own maze of trickery and mad dashes for absolution. Travelers from far-off lands even whispered of paradises and eternal glory and fire pits of damnation.

Raya would deal with the here and now.

“Girl!” Raya was startled to see a ware-seller staring straight at her, and she had the impulse to turn away as if she had not heard a thing. He beckoned her with a crooked finger, his smile revealing a mouth of missing teeth. “You look like you are searching for something.”

Raya resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Oh, do tell me more._ But she was still the sort to respect her elders. She had long ago learned age brought with it a wisdom that could not be bought or obtained through an easy manner — though she had to admit the man was looking at her in a way that would normally have inspired disgust rather than respect.

 _Keep your cool, Raya,_ she told herself. _You can spare a few words for an old man who likely doesn’t have long for this earth…_

As she stepped closer, however, the man gestured to his table of stones — all looking like dull imitations of the natural creations she had scoured for over all her years of looking for the elusive dragon gem. “A fair gem might solve all your problems,” the man said.

Raya eyed him patiently, trying her very best not to frown in distaste. _Maybe you should pick finer ‘gems,’ sir._ But she knew better, faster ways to shut down an enthusiastic and hopeful seller. “I’m sorry, sir, but I have no coin.”

The lie came easily, and just like that came a shuttered gaze, no longer bent on trying to sell her fake gems. The man’s smile slipped like she had just told him she had an incurable and contagious disease. She was sure he might have shooed her away like she were vermin if it wouldn’t have just caused an unnecessary scene. “Oh, well, I don’t barter or take payment by other means—”

Raya narrowed her eyes and wondered some days why she even bothered. “And you were so kind to show me your gems,” she said, clicking her tongue. Sarcasm was best cloaked in a graceful dress. “I’m sorry that I don’t have the means to support your _fine_ shop.”

The man simply kept his eyes on her warily before he turned away, and Raya smothered a smile before continuing on her way through the celebratory village. Lucky for the man that she hadn’t shown him what a _true_ gem looked like.

But Raya wasn’t here to educate the charlatans or incite a run on someone trying to steal the cracked gem in her concealed sword’s hilt.

She was just a passerby today. Like a phantom, like a passing breeze through the dusty streets with their bedazzled citizenry.

Her once-home may have been in danger, but here she could forget for a time.

For one night, the weight of an entirely different world didn’t sit so heavily on her shoulders.

Tonight, she would watch shadow players enact the rise and fall of gods, she would barter away some ribbon for a piping hot dumpling that would make her mouth water from the smell alone, and she would then retreat back to her tent as she sang songs from her childhood to a sleepy Tuk Tuk. The stars would be the silent sentinels, each one a glimmer of some faraway place that perhaps did not know war or silence or loneliness or even death.

That was her life for tonight. Tomorrow would be a new day, another step on the journey she had tasked herself to meet end for end.


End file.
